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It’s been said, and rightly so, that humans have the greatest capability to love. I am sure that the reason for this is that our fellow occupants of the planet, the animals, do not really know how to express love like humans, they work by instinct. So that means that when the hen gathers its chicks under its wings it is not actually love, it is being instinctively protective of its young ones. When the lion fights off intruders into its pride, it’s not really love for the lionesses or the cubs for that matter, it is, like the hen, also protecting its domain…instinctively.

Then we come to humans. When we talk about love as it relates to humans, there is always the tendency to think only about romantic love. But we are wrong, romantic love is just one of the types of love humans display, there are others. We humans show love in four different ways

love for family members. This kind of love is found in every society. People would bend over backwards to take care of their family members, the expression ‘we are family’ seems to make some action which otherwise would have been looked upon as wrong, to be acceptable. It takes sometimes ‘superhuman effort’ to go against one’s family, it is often considered unnatural. As unnatural as when a mother decides to do away with her child.

brotherly affection…the love among friends. Children born of the same parents have a unique bond. It is so great that they try as much as possible to look after each other and protect each other even against their parents sometimes. It is therefore no wonder some would say of a close friend, “We are not just friends, we are brothers /sisters. Animals can only practise this kind of love in cartoons or animations.

romantic love…that is the love that exists between spouses, a husband and a wife, a man a woman. It is a warm feeling that attracts these two opposites and brings them together to form a family where the other forms of love are born.

agape…unconditional love. This love transcends all others because it is a love that is not bound by family ties or friendships. Agape makes all the other forms of love pale into insignificance. It is the kind of love that moves someone to protect a total stranger at the expense of their own life. It is principled love, a love without hypocrisy. The foremost personage to display that love to us, was and is God.

It is important that we do that which sets us apart from animals. Let love rule our hearts and our minds and indeed our thinking. With love in our hearts we would not take up arms to kill each other in the name of terrorism or crime. Let’s imitate God’s selfless love and be happy.